


Sawdust and Cheese Pretzels

by JackyM



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Carlos is Autistic, Carlos is a Dork, Cecil is a Dork, M/M, Pre-One Year Later, cecilos - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 04:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12549184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackyM/pseuds/JackyM
Summary: Carlos bumps into someone he really likes by accident.





	Sawdust and Cheese Pretzels

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it would be cute to write a pre-OYL thing, since Cecil and Carlos being awkward dorks in love is always good! I thought a few times about writing it from both of their perspectives, but then I thought, we kind of know what Cecil's perspective is, in canon, but we don't know too much about how Carlos felt, so I thought I'd just have this fic focus on him entirely! 
> 
> Also this definitely is the weirdest title I've ever used.

Ever since he’d moved into Night Vale, Carlos had found himself very in love with the community’s radio host, Cecil Palmer. It wasn’t just one thing about him, either. His soft and welcoming face, his beautiful baritone voice, the way his words always came out in what could only be a prosaic serenade, regardless of the context. There were so many things to love about him, and all of them were things that made Carlos feel a tingly sensation rush into his cheeks, and made the hairs on his arms and neck stand up. There were so many odd and terrifying things about Night Vale ( _ so _ many!). But something about Cecil...his demeanor, his way of speaking and involvement within his community...it made Carlos feel something he didn’t have words for. Carlos definitely knew that he definitely loved Cecil. And those feelings triggered lots of other feelings, ones he had less of an understanding of. And in a way, that sort of frustrated him, because scientists should always have words for something (that is a critical part of being a scientist), but Carlos also supposed that sometimes, personal things like feelings are confusing, and sometimes, people are frustrated by confusing things. 

Carlos was thinking about all of that when finishing up in the bathroom at a 7-11, which he’d stopped at on his way home from the outskirts of Night Vale. He’d been doing a lot of experiments with the different rocks there. When he said the words “these rocks are really different”, he meant it. There were the common types of rocks someone who was a geologist or really any kind of scientist would expect from the desert; sandstone, siltstone, and shale, rocks like that. But there were also rocks that seemed impossible to be in the desert, like ridge basalts, some kind of basalt that Carlos wasn’t sure of the origin of but his guess what it might be lunar, and then something that definitely wasn’t a rock since it oozed and snarled when Carlos tried licking it. It’d been a wonderful night, though he’d completely forsaken that going to the bathroom was a thing people needed to do until he was driving home. 

While Carlos was washing his hands, he heard a familiar voice loudly asking the cashier if they only had sawdust and cheese pretzels left, and then loudly declaring that no it was fine he’d just take all three sawdust and cheese pretzels, really, it’s fine, just that he sort of preferred the ones with seaweed and three cheeses on them. 

Carlos hadn’t really tried talking to Cecil casually. As long as he could talk about science, he’d be fine, and wouldn’t embarrass himself or come off as weird and off-putting. Though Carlos definitely made excuses to see Cecil saying it was for professional and highly super scientific reasons, the truth was, any time seeing Cecil was a wonderful one. Though Carlos wasn’t sure how wonderful this one would be, if he just ended up embarrassing himself in front of Cecil. For a few moments he thought he’d just wait until Cecil left, but then thought that was ridiculous, how hard was it to just say hello, and also Cecil would probably see his car in the parking lot, he’d definitely seen it enough times by now to at least recognize it, and Carlos didn’t want Cecil to worry, either. Taking a deep breath, Carlos stopped nervously pacing in the single bathroom and pushed the door open, and immediately bumping into one of those sweaters that light up with a tired giant Chinese salamander on it and a feathery infinity scarf. 

In that brief moment, Carlos felt a lot of things. Mostly he felt a bit uncomfortable, because he didn’t like bumping into people and touching them, let alone without any sort of warning, and embarrassed, because he knew exactly who he’d bumped into.

“I’m so so sorry,” Carlos sputtered as soon as he pulled away, “really, really, I-I’m so sorry--”

“Oh, well, uh, no harm done,” said Cecil, his eyes and expression kind, “I’m sorry I was right there, I should’ve knocked, I don’t know why I didn’t knock, I’m sorry. Um. You’re not angry I didn’t knock and acted that rudely, right?”

“No, no, n-no I’m not mad about that. I mean, I’m not about anything, actually. I’m not mad over anything you did,” Carlos adjusted his glasses, and then starting flapping his hands, both things he did when he was extremely nervous, “I am just sorry if I hurt you.”

“Not at all, I don’t even need to go, I could’ve waited, I’m sorry, I, I just needed to wipe this off,” he gestured towards a wet cheese stain on one of his vibrant pant legs, “I don’t know why I almost barged in like that.”

“You did not do anything wrong, I, um, I,” Carlos searched for a way to communicate something, anything, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Um...why?”

“It’s sort of late. Well I mean. It isn’t late. Or, it is late. Time here is weird, Cecil, I have mentioned this before, I think. Time is weird so what I would ordinarily call “late” is not late necessarily. I think what I mean, e-excuse my non-scientific way of phrasing earlier, is that it feels late, because regardless of how weird hours here are, I have definitely been awake for a large number of them.”

“I-I’m all about scientific phrasing, Carlos. I’m very into science these days.”

“Did you know that there are various rocks that I have never seen before in the desert in the basin outside of town? Some of them are basalts that I thought were only on the seafloor, and some of them are definitely ones that likely only exist on the moon.”

“Um. The moon is fake, though.”

Carlos made an expression Cecil didn’t really understand.

“Sorry, sorry, but like, what I mean is, if it’s real, and the rocks look like rocks from the moon, then I’m sure they are rocks from the moon.”

“W-we dated them, actually, and they appear to be as old as the rest of the rocks there.”

“That’s neat!”

“It’s s-super neat, actually! I have never seen rocks like that before. I think that many people have not seen rocks like that before.”

“I definitely haven’t…”

“You may have, actually, I think that they are quite common in this area. I c-could probably get some photos of them and show you, at a later time. You could talk about the other, more dangerous types of rocks on your show, too, so everyone knows to avoid licking them.”

“You licked a rock?”

“I-it’s a very scientific technique to test for halite. Also if something is made of some kind of ice cream.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know science involves licking rocks.”

“Yeah,” said Carlos, still flapping his hands and letting his eyes drift by accident, trying to find a conversation topic, “um, um, I really like your shirt. That’s a Chinese giant salamander.”

“Yeah,” Cecil looked down at his shirt, beaming, “I thought it looked cute. I mean, look at it. It’s carrying a laser pointer and a mace.”

“Chinese giant salamanders do not see well, so they have biological sensors nodes all along their body.”

“I didn’t know that!”

“Also, they make a lot of noises. Some barking and hissing noises. And then they can see into the future. Sometimes it makes them sad. So they make crying noises. Sometimes it makes them happy, so they also make crying noises. You um, you can never really tell, because they can’t talk.”

“That’s really interesting, Carlos.”

Carlos had heard phrases similar to that one for a long time. Usually made in efforts to register what he had said, but never in the efforts to show that they genuinely found what he was saying to be interesting. But that wasn’t the case here, and Carlos knew that. Cecil’s expression was open and genuine, and it was a kind expression. Carlos didn’t want to blush in front of a man he knew he had a gigantic crush on, but that’s what ended up happening. He thought Cecil might’ve also been blushing, but he wasn’t sure, and certainly didn’t want to jump to conclusions and assume Cecil felt the same way as he did. But if he did...if he did, that would be so great. Then he could kiss him and feel his voice while resting his head against Cecil’s neck and hold his hand and be with him every evening and every morning and feel in the love he had for Cecil whenever he was with him. And also he could touch his butt. 

“But, I uh, I should probably wash this stain out,” Cecil said suddenly, interjecting Carlos’ thinking (how long had he been thinking that? Maybe it didn’t matter, since time was weird, but he didn’t want to seem rude). 

“Oh, right, right, I am sorry if I kept you,” Carlos said, biting his lip nervously.

“You didn’t. I love hearing about science. I’m  _ very  _ into science these days.”

Carlos didn’t really know what to say. Or, he did know what to say, but he didn’t know how to say it. He was too anxious to say anything without it coming out as a jumble of words that just amounted to “I really really love you”.

“I should get going, a-actually,” is what Carlos said instead of that.

“Right, right it’s late.”

“O-or feels late.”

“Yeah, or, uh, feels late. Drive safely.”

“Is there s-something I need to be afraid of while driving?”

“Well, yes, because driving is a scary experience and anything can happen. But also, no, because I didn’t see any potholes or black holes while driving over here for um. Dinner.”

“Black holes? On the road?”

“Sometimes. It really depends.”

“I’ll be safe. Scientists are always safe. That is one of the biggest parts of being a scientist--being a safe scientist. It was nice talking to you.”

“It was nice talking to you too! It’s always a pleasure hearing about science.”

Carlos sort of scrambled to his car, and once he got in it, he just sat there in the darkness for a little bit. He covered his face with his hands, and smiled. Despite being exhausted, despite feeling embarrassed and a little mentally strained, he smiled. Cecil was just  _ so _ charming. And asking him to drive safely? Maybe it was just a a general show of etiquette towards driving at night while tired, but it was still a nice thing to say, and Carlos felt ecstatic knowing Cecil cared about his well-being. He hopes, he really hoped, that Cecil felt the same way as he did. Carlos had always had trouble reading people, and he felt, maybe the worst lapse in judgement he could make was assuming someone reciprocated his feelings when that wasn’t the case. But, Carlos supposed, it wasn’t that unlikely, and he could always hope. And also, Carlos needed to ask Cecil about black holes just appearing because that was  _ very _ weird and  _ very _ fascinating. 


End file.
